Located in the heart of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Center Residences forms part of the Phase 2 development of Hang Lung's Center 66 project. Building on the proven success of the luxury retail mall and two office towers at the world-class commercial complex, the Center Residences is set to transform the Central Business District into a work-life hub that presents a modern interpretation of this historic city’s artistic and cultural heritage. The project accommodates two 200m high-rise towers with a gross floor area of around 100,000 sq.m, housing 573 units and a world-class
clubhouse. Adjacent to the property will be the Curio Collection by Hilton-branded hotel offering a total of 106 hotel rooms. The two premise is surrounded by oasis-like green landscape while divided by a grand central waterfall, giving each other a decent living space.
The architectural design follows a philosophy of “gentle variety”, which is to generate subtle changes from order, and create appropriate diversity in simplicity. This has been reflected in many ways: The massing of 2 towers was formed with contrast, one lower but wider, and the other
taller and slimmer, standing with a tilted angle next to each other; The facade language were deliberately designed to be gently asymmetrical, making the towers look differently when angle changes; Building plans and elevations also vary between floors to allow diverse apartment
layouts. In the end, connections were built between such a variety of design elements to form a unified whole.
Elegance is found in architectural details as well: Open-joint system is used on curtain wall to minimize gap width between facade panels; Aluminium profiles are added to accentuate horizontal language and also serve as ice stopper; Operable windows use push-open type to ensure the light reflection on elevation is not distorted when the windows are open; An “infinity pool” can/levers out from the taller tower at height of 190m from ground, with a transparent glass bottom at its overhang part.
The architects also incorporated other technical aspect successfully in design and will deliver this high standard project in the coming year.
Center Residences may look like a simple residential project, but in fact the design process was like finding a path in a labyrinth of constraints.
Challenges include:
- Mixed and disordered context;
- Tight and irregular-shaped site;
- Restrictions from adjacent heritage buildings
- High living density (100,000 sq.m to be accommodated on 10,000 sq.m land lot)
- Strict planning requirement (max 3.3~3.4m storey height and all units need have south facing living space)
- Super tall structure with small foot print;
- Complicated MEP system in limited space;
- High sustainable design requirement;
- High demand on green space.
- Etc.
Many constraints interlink with each other. A slight change often affect everything else. Great efforts were made to achieve a well balanced design.
Taking the structure design for example:
Restricted by the tight land area, the buildings’ layout had to be very narrow. At the same time, storey height had to be controlled under 3.3~3.4m due to local planning requirement. Lots of services and equipment, which is to achieve comfortable internal environment, also occupied many usable height. To ensure decent headroom under all these restrictions, shear wall system became the only choice, which meant structure would take a lot of space and allow little flexibility. Being in Wuxi where earth quake risk is high, structural transfer is not likely in this
project. However, to have diverse apartment layouts to suit market need, the floor plans of different floors need be different. The towers also need accommodate clubhouses and plant rooms which have quite different space requirement from apartments. Enormous studies were done to work out a most suitable shear wall layout balancing the need of structure, MEP services, and useable space.
Another example is the curtain wall aluminum profile design. Different profiles were made and tested in curtain wall lab to see how they perform by stopping ice falling from high. In the test, “rain”, “sun”, “temperature” was adjusted to observe how ice/snow melt in different weather
conditions, so as to find the right ice stopping profile. The experiment was successful and a profile meeting both functional and aesthetical requirement was chosen.
Solving technical problems makes the project good, but integrating technical with design makes the project outstanding. The key is to understand the limitations of all aspects and find the right solution based on the design ideas. This process was led by the architects and involved almost in all designs.
Located in the heart of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Center Residences forms part of the Phase 2 development of Hang Lung's Center 66 project. Building on the proven success of the luxury retail mall and two office towers at the world-class commercial complex, the Center Residences is set to transform the Central Business District into a work-life hub that presents a modern interpretation of this historic city’s artistic and cultural heritage. The project accommodates two 200m high-rise towers with a gross floor area of around 100,000 sq.m, housing 573 units and a world-class
clubhouse. Adjacent to the property will be the Curio Collection by Hilton-branded hotel offering a total of 106 hotel rooms. The two premise is surrounded by oasis-like green landscape while divided by a grand central waterfall, giving each other a decent living space.
The architectural design follows a philosophy of “gentle variety”, which is to generate subtle changes from order, and create appropriate diversity in simplicity. This has been reflected in many ways: The massing of 2 towers was formed with contrast, one lower but wider, and the other
taller and slimmer, standing with a tilted angle next to each other; The facade language were deliberately designed to be gently asymmetrical, making the towers look differently when angle changes; Building plans and elevations also vary between floors to allow diverse apartment
layouts. In the end, connections were built between such a variety of design elements to form a unified whole.
Elegance is found in architectural details as well: Open-joint system is used on curtain wall to minimize gap width between facade panels; Aluminium profiles are added to accentuate horizontal language and also serve as ice stopper; Operable windows use push-open type to ensure the light reflection on elevation is not distorted when the windows are open; An “infinity pool” can/levers out from the taller tower at height of 190m from ground, with a transparent glass bottom at its overhang part.
The architects also incorporated other technical aspect successfully in design and will deliver this high standard project in the coming year.
Center Residences may look like a simple residential project, but in fact the design process was like finding a path in a labyrinth of constraints.
Challenges include:
- Mixed and disordered context;
- Tight and irregular-shaped site;
- Restrictions from adjacent heritage buildings
- High living density (100,000 sq.m to be accommodated on 10,000 sq.m land lot)
- Strict planning requirement (max 3.3~3.4m storey height and all units need have south facing living space)
- Super tall structure with small foot print;
- Complicated MEP system in limited space;
- High sustainable design requirement;
- High demand on green space.
- Etc.
Many constraints interlink with each other. A slight change often affect everything else. Great efforts were made to achieve a well balanced design.
Taking the structure design for example:
Restricted by the tight land area, the buildings’ layout had to be very narrow. At the same time, storey height had to be controlled under 3.3~3.4m due to local planning requirement. Lots of services and equipment, which is to achieve comfortable internal environment, also occupied many usable height. To ensure decent headroom under all these restrictions, shear wall system became the only choice, which meant structure would take a lot of space and allow little flexibility. Being in Wuxi where earth quake risk is high, structural transfer is not likely in this
project. However, to have diverse apartment layouts to suit market need, the floor plans of different floors need be different. The towers also need accommodate clubhouses and plant rooms which have quite different space requirement from apartments. Enormous studies were done to work out a most suitable shear wall layout balancing the need of structure, MEP services, and useable space.
Another example is the curtain wall aluminum profile design. Different profiles were made and tested in curtain wall lab to see how they perform by stopping ice falling from high. In the test, “rain”, “sun”, “temperature” was adjusted to observe how ice/snow melt in different weather
conditions, so as to find the right ice stopping profile. The experiment was successful and a profile meeting both functional and aesthetical requirement was chosen.
Solving technical problems makes the project good, but integrating technical with design makes the project outstanding. The key is to understand the limitations of all aspects and find the right solution based on the design ideas. This process was led by the architects and involved almost in all designs.
Located in the heart of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Center Residences forms part of the Phase 2 development of Hang Lung's Center 66 project. Building on the proven success of the luxury retail mall and two office towers at the world-class commercial complex, the Center Residences is set to transform the Central Business District into a work-life hub that presents a modern interpretation of this historic city’s artistic and cultural heritage. The project accommodates two 200m high-rise towers with a gross floor area of around 100,000 sq.m, housing 573 units and a world-class
clubhouse. Adjacent to the property will be the Curio Collection by Hilton-branded hotel offering a total of 106 hotel rooms. The two premise is surrounded by oasis-like green landscape while divided by a grand central waterfall, giving each other a decent living space.
The architectural design follows a philosophy of “gentle variety”, which is to generate subtle changes from order, and create appropriate diversity in simplicity. This has been reflected in many ways: The massing of 2 towers was formed with contrast, one lower but wider, and the other
taller and slimmer, standing with a tilted angle next to each other; The facade language were deliberately designed to be gently asymmetrical, making the towers look differently when angle changes; Building plans and elevations also vary between floors to allow diverse apartment
layouts. In the end, connections were built between such a variety of design elements to form a unified whole.
Elegance is found in architectural details as well: Open-joint system is used on curtain wall to minimize gap width between facade panels; Aluminium profiles are added to accentuate horizontal language and also serve as ice stopper; Operable windows use push-open type to ensure the light reflection on elevation is not distorted when the windows are open; An “infinity pool” can/levers out from the taller tower at height of 190m from ground, with a transparent glass bottom at its overhang part.
The architects also incorporated other technical aspect successfully in design and will deliver this high standard project in the coming year.
Center Residences may look like a simple residential project, but in fact the design process was like finding a path in a labyrinth of constraints.
Challenges include:
- Mixed and disordered context;
- Tight and irregular-shaped site;
- Restrictions from adjacent heritage buildings
- High living density (100,000 sq.m to be accommodated on 10,000 sq.m land lot)
- Strict planning requirement (max 3.3~3.4m storey height and all units need have south facing living space)
- Super tall structure with small foot print;
- Complicated MEP system in limited space;
- High sustainable design requirement;
- High demand on green space.
- Etc.
Many constraints interlink with each other. A slight change often affect everything else. Great efforts were made to achieve a well balanced design.
Taking the structure design for example:
Restricted by the tight land area, the buildings’ layout had to be very narrow. At the same time, storey height had to be controlled under 3.3~3.4m due to local planning requirement. Lots of services and equipment, which is to achieve comfortable internal environment, also occupied many usable height. To ensure decent headroom under all these restrictions, shear wall system became the only choice, which meant structure would take a lot of space and allow little flexibility. Being in Wuxi where earth quake risk is high, structural transfer is not likely in this
project. However, to have diverse apartment layouts to suit market need, the floor plans of different floors need be different. The towers also need accommodate clubhouses and plant rooms which have quite different space requirement from apartments. Enormous studies were done to work out a most suitable shear wall layout balancing the need of structure, MEP services, and useable space.
Another example is the curtain wall aluminum profile design. Different profiles were made and tested in curtain wall lab to see how they perform by stopping ice falling from high. In the test, “rain”, “sun”, “temperature” was adjusted to observe how ice/snow melt in different weather
conditions, so as to find the right ice stopping profile. The experiment was successful and a profile meeting both functional and aesthetical requirement was chosen.
Solving technical problems makes the project good, but integrating technical with design makes the project outstanding. The key is to understand the limitations of all aspects and find the right solution based on the design ideas. This process was led by the architects and involved almost in all designs.